The governor was also going to put a sales tax on all schools.
"I figured it out, and across the state, each student would have a
$50 tax. Every school district would have taken a $50 hit per student,"
Kielkucki said.

"We held that harmless," he said. "We only
cut $15 million out of k-12 education and most of that went to the Department
of Education."

Kielkucki serves on the k-12 finance committee.

Dakota Rail not on radar

"As of yet, we haven't heard much about the Dakota
Rail," Kielkucki said. "There are two major issues involving railroads
right now, and they are not local ­ one is commuter rail, and one
is the Rochester rail line."

"As far as Dakota Rail, there hasn't been much talk.
That one hasn't hit the radar screen yet," he said.

Other bills

Throughout the session, Kielkucki authored several bills.

One particular bill involves group homes and rehabilitation
places, such as the Adult Training and Habilitation Center in Winsted.

"We created a problem a few years ago when corrections
set a new liability limit," Kielkucki said. "So, some of the group
homes are at that liability limit, but they have kids that come from Human
Services at a different, higher limit.

"The problem is that insurers always go with the highest,
so they had to insure all of these people, even though 80 percent of the
population drove the rates through the roof.

"My bill tried to equal it out for group homes and
we were able to get it through the House floor, but it didn't make it through
the Senate, so we have to work a little more on it."

The bulk of Kielkucki's work, however, lies with his position
on the state government finance committee.

"That deals with things like contracts, and looking
at the governor's budget, especially for his agencies. We slashed some of
his agencies pretty good ­ there was a lot of wasteful spending,"
Kielkucki said.

He also worked a bill through for the Minnesota State High
School League, which deals with corporate sponsorships and generating more
revenue for it.

"It's been a busy session," Kielkucki said.

The president's visit

Kielkucki, and his wife Lavon, heard President George W.
Bush speak when he addressed students at Eden Prairie Schools last Monday.

Bush made a visit to Minnesota in order to shore up support
for Republican Norm Coleman's bid for the Senate, which will be a tight
race against Democrat Paul Wellstone.

"They put all the high school kids in front of the
stage so he could address the kids. There were about 3,000 students there.

"We had close seats, but when he went to shake hands
following his speech, he went to the students.

"It was still kind of interesting to hear him speak.
It was the first time I've been able to get a good view of him and really
hear him."

"It was an honor to have the tickets to see him like
this," he said.

It took most of the day to get through security and necessary
precautions for a presidential visit.

"The security was really high. We had to all be searched
­ all the students too. Once you were in, you couldn't leave,"
he said.

The president ran a little late. The Kielkuckis waited
about three hours. Upon his arrival, the president spoke for about 45 minutes.
It took another 20 minutes to get out of the building, and about an hour
to get out of the traffic jam outside, he said.

"It was worth it to see a president," Kielkucki
said. "The thing that was interesting to me was to see how the kids
responded. They were really respectful and it was kind of encouraging to
see their patriotism, and they really got into the speech."

The main issues Bush discussed was patriotism, the Sept.
11 terrorist attack, and assuring students that the government was doing
everything it could possibly do, he said. Bush told them not to live their
lives in fear, Kielkucki said.

"The second thing Bush talked about was the importance
of education, especially dealing with teachers. The biggest part of his
speech talked about the educational programs he wanted.

His goal was that every single child in America would learn
to read.

"He figures learning to read is the key to education
­ which is true," Kielkucki said.

The third thing Bush did was to honor a few people for
their services ­ a World War II veteran who read to the blind,
and Mary Jo Copeland for her efforts in feeding the poor.

"It was a nice afternoon," he said. It was kind
of fun to see him. I mean, you see him on TV, or in a big crowd, but it
was unique to hear him speak and be a part of the audience."

Keeping in touch

The public must keep in touch with him about issues that
hit close to home, Kielkucki said.

"People can e-mail, write, give a phone call ­ I
take them all," he said.

Kielkucki may be reached via e-mail at kielkucki@house.leg.state.mn.us,
by mail at 367 State Office Building, 100 Constitution Ave., St. Paul, MN
55155, or call at (651) 296-1534.